Food mixer



Feb. 23, 1943. s. N. SETTERLUND FOOD MIXER Filed Nov. 5f 1939 2Sheets-Sheet l Fb Z39 @613 s. N. SETTERLUND 2,312,125

FOOD MIXER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov, 3, 1939 i 60 55 f 65 76 525 Z i20 .Z0 INVENTOR SGZQPM/d BY m44; ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 23, 1943 UNITEDSTATES PATENT'OFFICE Foon MIXER Sidney N. Setterlund, Elmhurst, Ill.Application November 3, 1939, serial No. 302,732

` Claims.

Ihe present invention relates generally to food mixers and moreparticularly to improvements in operating various food processing toolsincluding the transmission and bodily movement of the tools during theiroperation.

In the use of a household appliance such as a food mixer which drives aplurality of food processing tools, a special mixing bowl isgenerallyemployed and rotatably mounted to operatel in conjunction with thetools, particularly the food beater or beaters. y

In view of the fact that varying volumes of liquid are mixed from timeto time, bowls of various sizes are supplied to provide the best mixingresults. Obviously, the beaters must be small enough to work in thesmall bowls, yet be able to operate elciently in the large bowls.

In order to do this it has been the conventional practice in someinstances either to shift the bowl or slide it from one position toanother on a base under the beaters. In doing this, the bowl, because ofhuman frailty or other causes is not shifted smoothly, or because thesliding mechanism binds, the contents of the bowl are spilled over thesides of thebowl. Moreover, in many instances, the shifting cannot bedone without stopping the motor and raising the beaters, all of whichcreates delay and dissatisfaction, and what sliding back and forth isdone des not take advantage of the fullest possible movement of thebeaters in the bowl.

- In connection with the food processing tools capable of use while themixing operation is going on it is to be notedv that, in manyconventional devices,'it is impossible or impractical to drive hightorque low speed appliances, such as a meat grinder or food shredder,while the food beaters are operating in the bowl. This has arisen eitherbecause the food shredder must be powered from the beater sockets, or,within the limits of competitive manufacturing cost, the appliance isnot built strong enough to carry safely the combined loads.

In this last instance, the diiliculty confronting the manufacturerinvolves a balancing of expedients between an inexpensive fractionalhorsepower motor and an inexpensive transmis-l sion, a transmission suchas one having double worm gear reductions that encounter high powerlosses for the two power takeofi's.

If the double worm transmission is employed the added expense of astronger motor confronts the manufacturer. If a more eillcienttransmission is employed an added expense is encountered in the extragearing which involves gear reductions as high as 15 to 1 upon thebeater shaft and 250 to 1 upon the power takeoif shaft. Moreover, the 15to 1 ratio upon the beater shaft is not acceptable for the best resultsin extracting juice from citrous fruits, and has to be remediedby addedgearing. The preferred speed o! juice extractioninvolves a gearreduction in the ratio of one hundred to one.

As a means for combating these contigencies and in order to meetcompetitive manufacturing costs, many manufacturers by their designshave heretofore prevented or avoided the possibility of work. loadsbeing carried by all three outlets of transmitted power at one time,namely, the food beaters, the low-speed food choppers, and themedium-speed juice extractors. .v

With this in mind, it is one of the objects of the present invention toprovide a food mixer capable of driving all three food processing unitssimultaneously, and driving them in cooperation with the bodily movementof one of them, namely, the food beaters. Also, to drive them, or any ofthem, without disturbing or impairing the operation of any one or all ofthe other food processing operations, and, in doing these things, avoidany spilling of the contents of the bowl when the beater and the bowlare moved relative to each other.'

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved, compact,power output transmission, for any given applied horsepower, capable ofcarrying simultaneously all expected loads at all of the gear reductionratios mentioned.

Furthermore, I provide a transmission mechanism which not only attainsimproved results, but also is less expensive and more simple vinconstruction than conventional transmissions that aiford comparableresults when connected to motors of a given size or rating.

A further object ofthe invention is to enable a wide angle movement ofthe improved transmission and mixer so that Whether the bowl is on themixer base or near it, all of the food processing operations, beingperformed at any time, may be shifted relative thereto whenever desired.

In this connection it is desirable t0. provide maximum clearance andhead room for s large a bowl as possible. The transmissionwof 'thepresent invention makes this possible. The beaters can be located nearerto the front end of the housing to provide a deeper overhang withoutmaterially shifting the center of supported weight.

In this connection it is interesting to note that the presence of anyoverhanging weight at all imposes upon a support the problem which hasforced many manufacturers to the now conventional system of shifting thebowl rather than the beaters when providing a way to change the relativeworking area of the beaters in the bowl.

In those instances "where the beaters are the umts moved, the overhungweight is supported for pivotal movement above the base inthe body ofthe pedestal where a long vertical pivotal bearing member could be used.In these instances the axis is comparatively' remote from the beatersand the arc traversed by the beaters is small. y

In the presentsinvention I provide the pivot point at the base'fbetweenvertical projections of missionwhere they are disposed in the bowl asthe beaters? and the housing support. Here the moment of-.force oftheoverhung load is appreciably diminished by the location of a pivot pointcloser to the center of gravity of the overhang weight, where,incidentally,'the pivot also provides a wider angle of movement for thebeaters. the neness of adjustment in locating the beaters at any desiredspot being thereby minimized.

Moreover, the location of the pivot 4point in t the present invention isat a point where wide planar beating surfaces of a large area can beprovided to minimize pivot pin stress and binding.

A further object of the invention is to provide inproved constructionsand arrangement of parts relating to the several improvements and toprovide a device which is simple and easy to assemble, durable underlong periods of sustained heavy use, and inexpensive to manufacture and.

service. Y

These being among the objects of the invention, other and furtherobjects will become apparent from the drawings, the description relatingthereto and the appended claims.

Referring now to they drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly insection of a food mixer incorporating certain embodiments selected toillustrate and supplement a clear and concise description of theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a reduced section taken upon the line 2-2 inFig. l; v

Fig. 3 is a section taken upon the line 2-3 in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a section taken upon the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 with theconstruction and location of a Juicer attachment shown as assembledthere- Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation partly in sectionillustrating the manner in which a food processing device such as a meatchopper is attached for operation; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic top plan view illustrating the relativemovement of the beaters in the bowl.

Referring now to the drawings in further detail:

A food mixer is shown in Fig. l comprising a gear housing Il mountedupon the iront end of an electrically powered motor unit II having anarmature shaft I2 extending into the trans` mission housing. Thetransmission housing and motor driving unit are held together by boltsI3 in unitary relation as supported above a bowl carrying turntable Ilby means of 'a standard I5 mounted upon a base I8 in which the tinntableI4 is journaled as at I1. The turntable supports bowls of varying sizes,a large one of which I8 is shown in place.

shown in dotted lines 2| in their lowered position with their axesoffset slightly from the axes of the turntable Il. The beaters areraised and lowered with regard to the bowl by movement of thetransmission and power unit about the horizontally disposed pivot pin 22carried by the support IB. A handle for managing the transmission andpower unit is indicated by the numeral 23 and is detachably mounted forremoval by a latch 2l. The handle carries the weight of the housing atits front end by means of a lug 25 iitting into the power takeoil'socket 2l at the front of the transmission as held by the latch 24against a keeper 21, and at the rear end of the handle by a projection(not shown) received in the boss 28 on top of the unit.

Whenever it is desirable to use the power take- Y 0E socket 26 or thejuicer attachment, the handle 22 is readily removed to clear therespective power shafts.

In addition to a pivotal movement about the Apin 22 the power unit ismounted for horizontal pivotal movement about a vertical pin 3l so thatthe beaters 20 may be moved either by the handle 22 or otherwise fromone side to the other f of the bowl Il with enough latitude in themove-` ment to permit the beaters to engage against Beaters 20 aredetachably carried by the trans- 75 the side of the bowl to wipe thesides clean of ingredients clinging thereto.

The movement of the beaters is along an arc, the radius ofwhich includesapproximately the greater portion of the diameter of the bowl (Fig. 6).The beaters 2|, as shown, are large enough in diameter themselves tocover the area be tween their centers and the center of the bowl f asthey are moved manually to or through their central position in thebowl. This `enables the beaters tohave maximum movement in the bowl fromside to side along an arc, the chord of which approximately coincideswith the diameter of the bowl, as distinguished from the more huntedarcs resulting li' the beaters pass through or short of the center ofthe bowl. In this way the operation of the mixer not only providesmaximum interdigitating movement of the beaters in the bowl but also themaximum mixing action possible with bodily movement of the beaters in. Y

the bowl, it being interesting to note, at this time, that it is oneofthe purposes of the present invention to locate the pivot point inrelation to` n I the position of the beaters, as determined with extraoverhang permitted by the transmission construction, at a point spacedfrom the center of the bowl a distance designed to obtain the aboveresult.

In accomplishingthe mounting of the support I5 for pivotal movement uponthe base Il about pin 30, the plate 2l is provided upon its lower sur'face with a raised planar bearing surface 2lt At the rear edge of thesurface, as at 2l, the raised portion is provided with an arcuate `slot4I (Fig. 2), which is also concentric with the shaft ll.

To the rear of the arcuate slot 4l the plate isy provided with spaceddetenta Il adapted to receive therein a bali 42 which in its actionprovides a fee1" for an operator moving the handle Y 23 back and forthin locating the beaters at any desiredpoint. A Y. v .A

Mating with the planar bearing surface 31 upon the plate 3| is asimilarsurface 43 upon the top of the base I6, concentric to an integralbearing boss 44, for receiving the pin 30 in supported relation. A peg45 is mounted inthe base to cooperate with the slot 40 to limit extrememovementsof the support I on the shaft pin 30. The ball 42, mating-withVthe detents 4|, is mounted in a passageway 46 in the base and is heldthereby a piston 41 urged upwardly by a leaf spring 48.

The pin 30 has a head-50 at its upper end and a threaded opening at itslower end whereby it is secured in place to hold the support I5 andthebase I6 together under an adjusted pressure developed by means of awasher and screw assembly 5|. -The leaf spring 48 is secured in placethereby also. y l

i In addition to the other advantages' already mentioned, relating tothe manner in which the supports are pivotally mounted, it will be seenthat Vthe pivot point is advantageously located without disrupting thepleasing design of the support, and is located where part of the Weightthe pivot has to bear is partially balanced and alarge diameter bearingsurface having very little wear is had to permit full freedom ofmovement Without binding.

lReferring now to the transmission, a countershaft for the motor shaftI2 is indicated at 60 which comprises a reduced end portion 8| Journaledin a bearing 62 upon the front wall 63 of the motor housing The frontend 64 of the countershaft 60 is also of a reduced diameter and isjournaled in a bearing G5 in the front end of the transmission housingI0. The front end of the motor shaft I2 has gear teeth 66 cut thereonand the reduced end portion 6| of the countershaft has press fittedthereon a gear 61 mating with and driven by the teeth 66. The front endof the shaft 6| is provided with a worm gear 68 and upon theintermediate portion 69 of the shaft 60 another gear 10 is press fitted.

1 Referring now to Fig. 3, the worm 68 drives upon opposite sidesthereof and in opposite directions two Worm wheels 1| mounted upon caps12 and 13 which in turn are press fitted on sleeves 14 and 15,respectively. The sleeves receive, in detachably mounted relation, theupper ends 16 of the beater shafts. The sleeves 14 and 15 are journaledin long bearings 11 provided in bosses 18 that are cast integrally withthe transmission housing and the bearings are covered at their lowerends by a shield 80 secured to the bottom of the transmission housing bya screw 8|. The cover serves as a gland means for holding grease packing82 in place around the sleeves 14 and 15.

The caps 12 and 13 support the sleeves 14 and 'l5 against downwardmovement, and at the lower ends of the sleeves, rings 83 swaged theretoalso serve to hold the shield 80 in place.

In the transmission housing a false bottom or fioor 84 is provided tohold the gear lubricant in close proximity to the gears, it being moreor less possible with this particular construction to provide asubstantial supply of grease in this compartment, since, at the rearthereof a grease wall 86/is secured against the rear end of the falsedoor 84.

The power takeoff socket 26 is located above the shaft 60 where at therear thereof a power takeoff shaft 90 is provided which has a reducedrear end portion 9| press fitted in the sleeve 92 of a planetary gearmember 94 having a plurality of planet gears 95 secured thereto byswaged pins 8B upon which they are journaled.

The power shaft is provided with a larger cylindrical portion 91 whichis journaled at its front end in the bearing 98 that is pressed into theboss 99. At the rear portion of the enlarged portion 91 the shaft 80 hasjournaled thereon a sleeve |00 which has cut therein the teeth III of asun gear meshing with the planet gears 95. 1. 'Ihe sun gear has presstted thereto a gear |02 driven by the gear 10 upon the countershaft 60.

- At the rear end of the power take-off shaft 90.' the sleeve 92 has twobearing surfaces of different diameters. The smaller one |03 of which,is journaled in the boss |04 upon the front wall 63 of the motor housingThe larger bearing area |05 has journaled thereon the hub |06 of aninternally toothed ring gear |01 meshing also with the planet gears 95.The ring gear is driven directly from the motor shaft vI2 by means of agear |06 press fitted to the hub |06 of the ring gear.

The operation of the transmission is such that the sun and ring gearsare driven at comparative high speeds andat different speeds, the speeddifferential is preferably enough to provide a 250 to 1 reduction whichis imposed upon the planet gears and from them transmitted to the powertake-o shaft 90. The high speed of the gears makes for low load on thegear teeth, thereby increasing longevity and durability of thetransmission.

It will be noted that this arrangement is very compact without any wormgearing in the power take-off gear train, and lends itself to change forother gear ratios without altering the general organization. All gearengagements, have rolling contacts and the change is simply accomplishedby changing the ratio of the two gears 10 and |02.

It will also be noted that the motor shaft which has the highest speedand the full load is balanced against side thrusts. Moreover, the powerloss at the balanced worm drive is minimized by an immediate shaft-speedreduction at the gears 66 and 61, the slower speed permitting the use ofa larger diameter and more heavily multi-threaded worm and a smallerworm wheel and shorter bearings which permit a deeper overhang of thebeaters.

Not only this, but the power take-off shaft carrying suddenly appliedheavy loads now and then is not only provided with a 250 to 1 speedreduction in a small space, but also is positively powered by gearsmoving in the same direction with the load balanced all the way aroundthe shaft without end thrust in a Way reducing the bearing area needed.

The front end of the power take-olf shaft is provided with a rectangularslot I|0 for engagement with a shaft of any one of a plurality of foodtreating attachments such as the shaft upon the food chopper |I2. Theattachment is secured to the transmission housing by a snap latch IIBpressed by a spring ||4 that is heldin place by the same screw H5 withwhich the keeper 21 is fastened. The latch ||3 comprises an angle member||6 riveted to the front end of the spring by a rivet ||1 having anelongated head extending through the upper wall of the power take-offsocket and so constructed and arranged as to engage a recess |I8 uponyboss |43 upon the transmission housing.

the boss of the food chopper into which it snaps when mating. j

Whenever it is desirable to attach the food chopper, the handle 23 isremoved by releasing the latch 24. The boss |20 is then inserted intothe socket 26 with or without the upper end of the angle member H6 beingpressed rearwardly to lift the stud ||1 to clear the boss |20 until therecess I I8 is reached. Detachment is in the reverse. The stud ||1 islifted and the boss |20 removed, whereupon the handle may be againlocked in place.

Referring now to Fig. 4, a construction is shown whereby a fruit juiceris attached and the reamer |2| thereof driven from the powertransmission at the proper speed.

The juicer shaft is indicated at |22 where it is journaled at its lowerend in a socket |23 and at its upper end in a bearing |24. In the spacebetween the twogbearings the juicer shaft has secured thereto a sleeve|25 with a gear |26 mounted thereon by a press fit. The gear |26 isdriven from the gear teeth |21 cut in the edge of a headed portion |28upon the sleeve 12. Adjacent its upper end the shaft iscircumferentially grooved as at |30 to receive in locking relationshiptherewith a portion |3| upset therein from the body portion of a lockcollar |32 at the time the shaft |22 is installed. Between the upper endof the collar |32 and the lower end of the sleeve |25 riding against theadjacent ends of the two bearings, the shaft is secured againstlongitudinal displacement in a manner holding the gear |20 in mesh withthe gear teeth |21. At its upper end the shaft |22 is provided with acylindrical bore 33 for receiving the complementary end portion |34 of areamer shaft |35. Cross slots |38 are provided at the upper end of thejuicer shaft |22 for receiving pressed radial flanges |31 carried by thereamer shaft |35.

The reamer |2| may be constructed in any suitable manner and mountedupon the upper end of the reamer shaft. |35 by means of a plastic |38. l

The juicer bowl is indicated at where it is mounted upon a sleeve |4|which extends into a cylindrical aperture |42 cut or dye cast in the Thesleeve Mi supports the juicer bowl |40 by means of a supporting washer|44 at the bottom thereof and a clamp nut |45 threadec on the upper endof the sleeve against 'the upper end of a hub |46 cast integrally withthe bowl |40.

Having thus described my invention and discussed certain changes andmodifications, and although a. single embodiment has been illustrated,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other uses,modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spiritand substance of the invention, the scope of which is commensurate withthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a food mixer having a bowl and a support overhanging the bowl todispose beaters therein, a base member having a bore receiving avertical pin below the bowl, means for pivotally mounting the support onthe base member for pivotal movement relative to the bowl comprising aplate member secured to the support and receiving said pin, a planarbearing surface concentrically located with respect to the pin, a planarbearing surface upon the base member mating with that on the platemember, an arcuate groove on one of said members receiving a pin carriedby the other member, and a detent element carned by one of the membersand engaging detents in the other of said members.

2. In a food mixer, a base,'power driven beater unit, a rotatable bowl,and means supporting the unit and bowl for relative arcuate movement thechord of which passes approximately through the middleof the bowl andthe arc of which passes beyond the center of the bowl.

3. A food mixer comprising a base, a bowl supported on the base, asupport extending downwardly and towards the bowl support, meanspivotally securing the support to the base for horizontal movement abouta vertical axis near the front lower edge of the support, including Iplanar bearing surfaces and a feeler member for indicating the relativepositions of the support and base, a transmission means pivotallymounted upon the support for pivotal movement about a horizontal axisand providing a socket near its front end for detachably supporting afood beater for movement' into and out of the bowl through -any one oi'a plurality of arcs determined by the relative position of the supportand base regarding their relative horizontal movement.

4. A food mixer comprising a base, a bowl rotatably mounted thereon, apower driven beater unit disposed over the bowl, a support for the unitproviding maximum overhang for the unit over the bowl, means connectingthe support and base for pivotal movement about a vertical axis withinthe overhang and including, planar bearing surfaces and a feeler memberfor indicating the relative positions of the support and base.

5. A food mixer comprising a base, a bowl rotatably mounted thereon, apower driven beater unit disposed over the bowl, a support for the unitproviding maximum overhang for the unit over the bowl, means connectingthe support and base for pivotal movement about a vertical axis withinthe overhang and including raisedv portions upon the base having planarbearing surfaces disposed above the level of the top of the base a shortdistance to provide clearance between the base and support, and a feelermember for indicating the relative positions ofthe support and base.

SIDNEY N. SE'I'I'ERLUND.

